Herpetofauna: One Life's List

Sceloporus jarrovi
Mountain Spiny Lizard

Huachuca Mts, Arizona
August 4, 2000

As you hike up into the Huachucas, and the emory oaks and junipers are replaced by bays and laurels and pine trees, the Clark's Spiny Lizard gives way to the Mountain Spiny Lizard.  They grace the sunward sides of rocks and trees, and cock a wary eye at you when approached.  The males, as pictured here, have a lovely deep blue hue to their tails and the sides of their heads, and not given proper justice in these photos.

The lizards are found at elevations of 4500 to 11,000 feet.  From deep in Mexico they range up the Sierra Madre Occidental, into the mountains of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.